The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) is the regulator established by the provincial government to regulate the practice of Massage Therapy and to govern the conduct of Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) in the province of Ontario through the provisions of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) and the Massage Therapy Act, 1991. CMTO is dedicated to excellence in protecting the public’s interest, guiding its registrants and promoting the highest possible quality of the practice of Massage Therapy.

Not to be confused with a school that teaches Massage Therapy, or the membership-based professional association (the Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of Ontario), CMTO is one of the 26 regulatory Colleges that oversee their respective health professions in this province, as set out in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991.

Information for RMT Clients

New Written Consent Requirements for Treating Sensitive Areas

Information for Clients of Massage Therapists*

The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) recently introduced new requirements for Massage Therapists (“MTs” or “RMTs”) to improve client safety, in response to Ontario’s Protecting Patients Act, 2017, which aims to eradicate sexual abuse by health professionals.

CMTO received a significant amount of feedback on our new Standards for Maintaining Professional Boundaries and Preventing Sexual Abuse(Standards) since we released them on September 21, 2017. We appreciate the feedback we have received. Thank you to those who have written, emailed, and communicated with us. A Frequently-Asked Questions document has been prepared to address the top questions that CMTO has received. Please find it here.

The new requirements strengthen your involvement as a client in the consent process when treatment includes sensitive areas (breasts, buttocks, upper inner thigh and front chest wall) by requiring written consent prior to treatment.

The written consent requirement was established to ensure clients are provided with a clear opportunity to decide whether their sensitive areas are touched and to strengthen our ability to enforce the College’s zero tolerance policy of sexual abuse.

Based on feedback from clients and RMTs, CMTO has streamlined the sample consent form that was provided with the Standards to make it more user-friendly for clients. The revised form was made available to RMTs on November 22, 2017.

CMTO will continue to monitor the implementation of the new Standards and provide support to clients of Massage Therapists and RMTs as they implement the new requirements into their everyday practice.

If you have any questions, please direct them to Marnie Lofsky, Director, Professional Practice at Marnie.Lofsky@cmto.com